The Last Passage

After the Allied evacuation from Dunkirk, thousands of people found themselves stranded in occupied territory, desperate to escape. These included many Allied troopers who had missed the boats departing France’s northern shore. Fortunately for these stranded soldiers, help was at hand. Many of those living in German-occupied France and Belgium remained hostile to their new overlords and sought to continue aiding the Allied cause in whatever way they could. One way they realised they could do this was by setting up a secret network tasked with helping Allied soldiers escape capture and send them back to England. Yet how could they achieve this? With the Germans controlling much of the western coastline of Europe, it was impossible to cross the Channel. The answer was to head not north, but south, across the Pyrennes, through neutral Spain to Britain’s mainland fortress: Gibraltar. The resistance group was set up, stretching from Brussels to Spain and relying on a network of people to guide Allied soldiers and airmen through occupied France into Spain and home via British-controlled Gibraltar. Within months this network was several hundred people strong, all having a universal desire to help the Allied airmen. They called it the Comet Line. For the next four years, the Comet Line remained active as thousands of Allied aviators, unfortunate enough to be shot down but fortunate enough to escape the aircraft, became stranded in enemy territory. For those airmen lucky enough to discover the Comet Line, the legacy of a stranger’s kindness would remain forever. The Last Passage is a stunning documentary that tells the moving and dramatic story of this secret World War Two network. Using dramatic reconstructions, this film provides an emotive glimpse into the past and the lives of the people involved.